RUN by Matthew Keegan
by Matthew Keegan
Summary: As the Imperial war machine closes in on the Rebel's Echo Base on Hoth, one fighter single-handedly races to free their forgotten yet trusty steeds in this fast paced short story.


RUN by Matthew Keegan

RUN

For the first time in her life, Rall Veldek was glad she was not a fast runner. Had she been several paces ahead of her current position the chunk of ice the size of a power droid, which had dislodged from the hangar ceiling, would have crushed her flat. It was not how she wanted to end her service with the rebellion.

With the battle pushing ever closer outside on the northern snowy plains of their ice world, vibrations of oncoming walkers were causing the expansive ice caverns to break up. Already a number of the passageways were blocked and she hoped her intended destination had not succumbed to the same damage as the hangars.

She skirted around the ice boulder and pushed on across the cavernous chamber, past a humming GR-75 transport being loaded with crates, past a disassembled Y-Wing still awaiting parts that would come, past a droid which had been sheared in half by falling ice, and slipped in through the doorway of the southern passageways.

Here the sound of Rall's running, of her frantic breathing, bounced back at her off the walls. Even her pounding heartbeat seemed to echo off the confined ice hallways.

She vaulted over a downed electrical conduit and shot past a panicked crew member she didn't recognise. The rifle slung across her back bounced up and down and tugged at her shoulders and banged against her spine despite the padded clothing, but she ignored it.

The door to the operation's centre shot by on her right and she was briefly aware of people shouting orders and the sounds of battle broadcast in the air. The war sounded full of treble and static.

She pushed on.

Somewhere outside a huge explosion shook the mountain and the walls either side of her seemed to vibrate before they cracked lengthways. The floor jolted upwards and Rall was tripped up on a duckboard. She flew through the air and came crashing down against the floor, banging her shoulder hard into a lattice of pipework.

She let out a sharp groan but scrambled to her feet as quickly as she could. The lights flickered briefly but she put the fear of a destroyed power generator from her mind as she set off again.

Her left arm screamed with pain and she had to hold it tight against her body to stop it swinging. She wasn't sure if she had broken something but there was nothing she could do about that now. The medical wing had all but packed up and what medical staff remained in the base would be too busy dealing with soldiers and pilots from the battlefield. Her arm would have to wait.

Turning right at the next junction she heard their cries. At the next corner she could smell their panic. Their bellowing tore at her heart. Entering the holding pens she counted half a dozen Taun Tauns still confined to their pens, each one terrified of the noise that had come to their home.

Rall reached out with her good arm and tried to calm the closest animal. It was the matriarch of the pack. One of the men had named her Gammy after his cantankerous grandmother and the name had stuck. Gammy's large feet pounded on the ice floor and her heavy tail thrashed left and right, slamming into the metal framework which made up the walls of its pen.

"Shhhh. Easy, girl," she said in as calm a voice as she could muster, "Easy there, Gammy. I've got you. I've got you."

She took a hold of the bridle and as she did so the base shook again. The ice walls groaned as they shifted laterally. Smaller pieces fell from the ceiling and Rall's arm was pulled back hard, receiving a jolt of pain as the old Taun Taun reared its head back sharply. She winced in agony as quietly as she could and reached out again to stroke the muzzle of the beast. Forcing herself to calm down so the animals could be reassured, Rall waited until Gammy bowed her head slightly towards her, allowing her to take a hold of the bridle. Around her the other Taun Tauns quietened slightly.

Rall patted their leader with confidence. "Come on, girls. We're getting you out of here," she said as she attached reins to the bridle.

Swinging the gates back, the six snow lizards waited for her to take the lead. With only Gammy being led by Rall, the other five Taun Tauns followed obediently as she pulled the older beast out into the main passageway.

Their heads grazed the ceilings as they raced along which bought down dustings of ice and snow on them. The six lizards filled the corridors and their bellows and grunts echoed in the confined space. Their heavy feet crushed duckboards as they ran. It took all of Rall's effort to stay ahead of them.

She rounded the corner and fear filled her. The passageway outside of the command centre had collapsed. Rall almost screamed in frustration. She had run through here only minutes before, but here it was now filled with ice and rock from the collapsed ceiling above.

 _No,_ she thought to herself, _this is the quickest way to the hangar!_

Behind her she could feel the Taun Tauns becoming restless, eager to reach the open plains where they could run free.

 _But how do I get them there?_ she thought as she tried to picture the base's layout in her mind. It was a honeycombed maze under the mountain and some passageways were dead-ends.

Then it hit her. Rall almost laughed.

"The medical centre!" she cried out loud and began pushing the large beasts backwards up the hall. Not a creature that had evolved to walk backwards, she had trouble manoeuvring the Taun Tauns to a point where she could turn around but after an agonising minute she forced them back into a doorway and, fighting the beast's weight, bought Gammy around to the front of the pack again.

Leading the way in the opposite direction, she dragged the beasts back past their holding pens and turned left into what had once been the medical centre. Now devoid of all patients and staff and with room to move, Rall burst into a sprint. Behind her the snow lizards followed, eager to be free, and kept pace as they pushed their way through the once clinically clean rooms. Empty carts and tables were knocked to the ground and several shut-down surgical droids which awaited collection were also sent flying as the group ran for their lives.

One rebel clerk emerged from a doorway in a rush and Rall screamed for him to get out of the way. The man dropped his wares and instantly dove to the ground, protecting his head as they hammered their way past him.

The floor thundered with the blows of heavy feet as they raced the length of the ward. Rall saw no one else for the next minute as she threaded the animals through the hospital exit and into yet another passageway. She had only ever come this way once before as it was used for the transportation of the sick to and from ships, but Rall was sure if she turned right at the next intersection she should be able to thread her way to the south hangar... if it wasn't blocked by another cave in.

A different vibration reached them and Rall realised it was one of the transports taxiing out of the hangar. She didn't know how many remained but she prayed to the ancient gods of her home-world that there would be one still there once she had completed her task.

 _Please, please, please..._

Then another sound reached her. Blaster fire. Lots of blaster fire. Behind her the Taun Tauns barked their protest as she dragged them onward. It was the only way out.

They rounded the last cramped corner and elation swept through Rall as she and her six companions burst into the main hangar. The smell of burnt tibanna gas and engine fumes filled the air, as did streaks of incoming red blaster bolts. One transport, its nose sparkling and flaring from the impact of enemy hits, was punching its way out into the daylight and pulling up hard to clear the incoming fire. Another transport - the last one - was taking on the remnants of the base personnel as a dozen soldiers held off the wave of distant Imperial Snow troopers outside the shield doors. She saw two men fall to incoming fire.

Turning hard and pulling Gammy behind her, the team raced along the side wall of the hangar, so far unnoticed by the Empire's forces.

 _Not far now, girls_ , Rall thought as she weaved her way between stationary cargo tugs and abandoned personnel carriers. If she could make it just beyond those vehicles, the Taun Tauns would have a clear run to the outside, back into the wilds of their home.

The sniper's blaster bolt took her low, slicing through the side of her hip and into the ice wall behind her. She screamed out in pain and fell, sliding along the frozen ground. The reins fell from her gloved hands as both went to her injured side, their touch only causing more pain to the seared flesh. Time seemed to slow momentarily and all thoughts of the Taun Tauns left her as her mind tried to deal with the burning agony she was in. She rolled over, balled up a fistful of snow and winced as she jammed it into her wound. There was some relief but not much. Then she remembered the Taun Tauns and was surprised to see they had stopped and were standing above her, waiting for her to continue with them. Two of the younger beasts made hurried grunts and bowed their heads to her, pushed her firmly but gently with their muzzles, encouraging her to get up. Wrapping her forearm around the tusk of one of them, she allowed it to drag her to her feet and was grasping Gammy's reins when the unthinkable happened.

Gammy's eyes went wide and she howled louder than Rall had ever heard a Taun Taun as an incoming blaster bolt drilled through her thick hide. She bucked backwards into the wall, her legs thrashing wildly to escape the pain, skidded on the slick floor and crashed heavily onto the cold ground.

"NO!" Rall screamed as the reins slipped from her grasp. Around her the other beasts howled as they watched their pack-mother scream in agony.

Rall dropped to her knees, her hands reaching out for Gammy. But she was no veterinarian. And even if she was, she couldn't help her here. Anger swept through her as she thought of how close they'd gotten. Rage boiled up in her at the enemy beyond the blast doors. Vengeance surged through her and before she knew it Rall had unslung and shouldered her rifle.

"GET OUT OF HERE!" she screamed at the five remaining Taun Tauns. "GO! RUN!" She leaned over and slapped the nearest beast on the rump as hard as she could but the animal hardly flinched. Its focus was on their fallen leader.

"GO!" Rall bellowed again with a breaking voice, tears filling her eyes as she willed the

animals to flee.

But they didn't.

One bowed its head and nuzzled Gammy who was barely breathing. Short, forced gasps left clouds of life in the air, each getting smaller as that life slipped away. A groan carried on her final breath. It was a groan that, although barely above a whisper, was clearer to Rall than the cacophony of war that surrounded her.

"No…" Rall whimpered as she looked down at the lifeless Taun Taun. The other animals seemed to be echoing her sentiments as each moaned lightly, almost solemnly.

"NO!" Rall screamed as she pushed the nearest beast, urging them to escape. "RUN! Please, run…" Her voice broke as she smacked it again.

This time the animals responded. With a course bark, one of them broke into a run and led the pack towards the daylight. Seeing them sprinting faster than they ever had, Rall's fight returned.

 _They're going to make it!_

Flicking off the safety, Rall aimed through the scope and began hammering away at the distant enemy. She fired quickly and with determination. More troopers began zeroing in on her which was what she wanted as none of the Taun Tauns were drawing fire.

Ice rained down on her as bolts impacted around her position. She leaned forward onto the still-warm body of Gammy and used her for protection and she fired faster and faster. She changed out packs and kept firing, on and on until her rifle's barrel became red hot, but still she fired. Bolts hit the Taun Taun's body and singed hair and flesh. One glanced off Rall's rifle with a shower of sparks and just missed her neck. She could smell the burnt collar of her coat. Her rifle had ceased to work.

"RUN!" she bellowed one last time. Tears filled her eyes and a wave of relief hit her as the creatures burst from the cavern into the sunlight outside and bolted across the plains.

Her laugh of joy cracked with emotion and she cried. She had done it. When everyone else had forgotten or not cared about what happened to the steeds they had been using the last few months, Rall had seen them set free.

Behind her the engines of the last transport crackled to life. She looked across the expansive hangar and saw a soldier looking back at her from the ship's access ladder. A look of regret for not being able to help her was on his face, and as he climbed up into the belly of the ship she swore she could see the words " _I'm sorry_ " form on his lips.

The transport surged ahead under fire and out into the daylight.

Rall slumped down against Gammy. She was spent. She was alone.

And soon she would be a prisoner.

Across the snowy plains outside, a cry reached her ears. It was one of the Taun Tauns. She wanted to believe it was thanking her.

As the hangar flooded with Imperial troops, Rall smiled as she pulled the thermal detonator from her pouch. With her face pressed up against the ebbing warmth of Gammy, she waited until the enemy were almost upon her to activate it.

Rall Veldek would not be leaving Hoth, but she was fine with that.

She had done her part.


End file.
